Senate Democrats are introducing a bill to separate the African-American farmers discrimination lawsuit from the Indian trust fund lawsuit.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas), the chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and two other Democrats said the $1.15 billion African-American settlement deserves to be heard on its own.
"We will try to attach this bill to any moving legislative vehicle in the Senate. But if the political environment is such that no bill is moving, Senate Leadership will need to call up this stand alone bill and debate it on its merits," Lincoln said in a press release.

The Obama administration and Senate Democratic leaders have linked the two settlements in hopes of getting them passed. But the National Black Farmers Association says controversy over Cobell is hurting their cause.

“The two should not be separated, and they will not be separated, a spokesperson for Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North
Dakota), the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs
Committee, told Indian Country Today. "Any settlement that moves through Congress must include Cobell.”